OK, I read the Strib story; it was there on their front page:
Parks think green, as in cash
Minneapolis' Park Board is looking at business partnerships and other ventures to bring in needed bucks.
By ALEX EBERT, Star Tribune
Last update: July 25, 2010 - 9:19 PM
Faced with a shrunken budget, Minneapolis park leaders hope a combination of bikes, burgers and an Italian sculptor named Brioschi will stave off further cuts to the popular and nationally known park system.
I wrote to Larry Bivins, the Gannett correspondent who did the interview with Michele Bachmann that appeared in the St. Cloud Times... These are the actual emails, personal info edited out...
From: W Prendergast
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 3:49 PM
To: Bivins, Larry
Subject: Your Michele Bachmann interview.
Hi Mr. Bivins.
I read your Michele Bachmann interview on the St. Cloud Times web page. Were you required to submit questions for the interview in advance (eg, via email or in writing) or was it a live off-the-cuff interview that you held with Bachmann in person or over the telephone?
Thanks for any information.
Sincerely,
Bill Prendergast
Minnesota Progressive Project
From: "Bivins, Larry"
To: W Prendergast
Sent: Tue, November 24, 2009 9:48:09 AM
Subject: RE: Your Michele Bachmann interview.
It turns out that the City Pages isn't the only local organ to run a crap "interview" with Michele Bachmann this week.
The St. Cloud Times has done the same thing. Their Washington correspondent is a Gannett News Service guy name Larry Bivins. He filed a story from Washington that purports to be an interview with Bachmann.
The Strib claims that there is news value in Bachmann's answer to the last question in the interview--a question regarding possible regrets that she might have about charges of "anti-Americans" and "gangster government" in Washington.
Nah. No news value there, unless the interviewer asks her a follow up about her most recent remarks on these themes. With dates, the quotations, etc. And there's no news value unless the interviewer asks Bachmann whether she regrets particular statements she's made throughout her career: with the dates, the quotations, etc.
Now I say the St. Cloud Times story "purports" to be an interview with Bachmann. I say that because the City Pages had the honesty to tell its readers that their Bachmann interview was not really an interview: it was instead a "manipulate the media game" played according to Bachmann's rules. Bachmann would not participate unless questions were submitted to her in advance, in writing--and she would send answers to the questions the same way. Absolutely no spontaneity, no chance for candor.
Here, in the St. Cloud Times interview: we have no indication about the ground rules. It may have been held live and been a true interview--it may have been conducted by email with questions submitted in advance, like the City Pages non-interview.
I do know this: the New York Times turned down Bachmann's "questions must be submitted in advance" conditions for an interview. In this instance, the Times would not allow itself to be used a tool for publishing varnished spin in place of news. The City Pages did agree to do that, for sake of getting access to Bachmann. The jury's still out on the St. Cloud Times; I have a call in to the reporter.
The Crown Hydro Project proposes using the power of the St. Anthony Falls to generate clean and renewable electricity - link to Liberal in the Land of Conservative to see exactly what the "before" and "after" images of what the construction site does and will look like.
Throughout the Crown Hydro Project's long history, the major obstacle to construction has been the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. There are very loud and very local activists adamantly opposed to this project - and very clear that they feel only they should have any say in the matter. Here's what one Minneapolis resident had to say on the matter, on the Minneapolis Issues List:
Like it or not, the Crown Hydro project wants to use land that is owned by the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and, that board is elected by residents of Minneapolis. They ought to concern themselves very much with what Minneapolis taxpayers say; they can pretty much ignore what taxpayers in Eden Prairie say.
This comment is typical of those opposed to Crown Hydro, even though the Park Board relies heavily on outside funding for it's operations and even though Crown Hydro would provide approximately $300,000 - annually - in additional Park Board funding.
How heavily does the Minneapolis Park Board rely on revenue other than property taxes for it's operations? In 2007, according to the Park Board, of the total 2007 Park Board revenues, 14.1% were Unrestricted Grants &
Contributions; 3.8% were Operating Grants & Contributions; and 13% were Capital Grants & Contributions - for a total of 30.9% of total revenue. Only 62.3% of 2007 Park Board revenues, according to the Park Board, were
generated by locally-paid property taxes.
The St. Cloud Times Editorial Board weighed in on the subject of regional parks funding at the state level, today. Let's look at part of what they said:
(Editor's note: more, and a YouTube too, beyond the fold)
